DETROIT – Honda’s Acura brand is putting a lot of importance on 2012, with two new models, the ILX compact and a next-generation RDX cross/utility vehicle, coming this spring.

But attention also will focus on two of the near-luxury brand’s low-volume models, the aging RL sedan and ZDX CUV.

News about the RL will be made at the New York auto show in April, John Mendel, executive vice president-sales for American Honda, tells media at the North American International Auto Show here. The show also will feature a refreshed ZDX.

The RL, whose current generation has been on sale since late 2004, saw its traditionally small volume fall even further in 2011, down 46.2% to 1,096 deliveries.

The hard-to-categorize ZDX is fresher, launched in late 2009 as a product meant to draw fashion-focused buyers to Acura showrooms.

In an interview last year with WardsAuto, a Honda official could not confirm whether the ZDX would remain in Acura’s lineup beyond the first generation.

Mendel sees Honda spending less on incentives in 2012, although they may spike for certain models, such as the outgoing Accord.

“We tend to do them only on run-out vehicles. Run-out models tend to draw a little more incentive fire than new ones,” Mendel says of what he calls Honda’s tactical incentives.

However, because Honda’s inventory still is constrained following last year’s Japan earthquake and the flooding in Thailand, he isn’t sure how quickly incentives for the current-generation midsize car may rise.

A new Accord isn't due until fall, leaving the current model on the market for the better part of the year.

“I think overall you’ll see incentives flat or down for us, in spite of increased volume,” Mendel says.

Honda plans to sell 1.25 million vehicles in the U.S. this year, compared with 2011’s 1.02 million. The Acura brand should grow sales to 180,000 units, up from prior-year’s 123,299, Mendel says.

The knowledge gap already could be affecting sales of advanced-technology vehicles, which last year accounted for 3.5% of the nearly 17 million cars and trucks sold in the U.S., according to WardsAuto data....More

“Logically, Cadillac is not disconnected from GM,” the longtime luxury executive says. “The way we want to organize the business in the future is that Cadillac will own the entire process, all the things that touch Cadillac.”...More

Through June, FCA says the diesel makes up 18% of the Ram 1500s shipped from the plant but only 12% of the retail mix. The automaker says a 20% retail mix remains in sight. But it should have been achieved by now....More

The vehicles will be tested on suburban roads in Adelaide, the state capital, at the same time the South Australian government hosts an international conference to discuss driverless-vehicle technology and regulation....More

Engineers and designers from ZF and the former TRW have been sharing notes, exchanging ideas and identifying best practices, and some of the resulting technologies will be ready for market in the near future....More

Ann Arbor’s Mcity test track includes four traffic lights, an underpass, metal bridge deck, gravel roadways and parking spaces that are angled, perpendicular and parallel. Efforts are under way to open a similar but larger facility nearby in Ypsilanti....More

Located on the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor, Mcity is a $10 million 32-acre (13-ha) test track with roundabouts, bike lanes, a tree canopy and 4-way intersections to simulate small-town traffic situations.

I-GAME’s focus is on cooperative solutions and the scenarios for next year’s competition during Dutch Technology Week have been selected to highlight situations where cooperation is superior to autonomy....More